---

(Editor's note: Father Deimeke is pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in Watervliet. In the May 10 issue, he wrote about the pending sale of the former St. Patrick's Church in Watervliet; that article can be read at here . Since then, some Catholics have protested selling the church to Nigro Companies, which plans to demolish it and build a Price Chopper supermarket on the site.)

Since my previous article in The Evangelist about the sale of St. Patrick's property in Watervliet, other ideas have come forward regarding what could become of St Patrick's Church building rather than demolishing it.

I want to reiterate: Ideas are not purchase contracts.

A purchase contract is a firm offer to purchase the site. We have received four offers, all of which involved demolition and construction for retail purposes. We chose the Nigro Companies as the best offer for the parish and the community.

In the meantime, Immaculate Heart of Mary parish continues to pay for the expenses of insuring and maintaining the buildings and the site. It is costing the parish about $125 per day to own this property.

The parish's finance committee members have agreed that this is not considered good stewardship under any circumstances, but especially given our limited resources.

Several individuals have asked us to delay selling the property while a potential new purchaser can be found. The fact of the matter is, it has been known since March 2010 that St. Patrick's Church would be closing, with the site for sale.

With that in mind, we believe the possibility of a new offer which would save the church structure is very remote at best, and Immaculate Heart of Mary parish cannot continue to bear the expenses waiting for that possibility. We are still working with the City Council and the Office of Real Property from the Diocese of Albany to sell the property to Nigro Companies.[[In-content Ad]]

---